


The Prime and The Wolf Berserker

by Valkyrjan



Series: Norse Transformers Tales [1]
Category: Norse Religion & Lore, Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Norse Religion & Lore, Contains Icelandic Words, Dominance, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Female Optimus Prime, Gender or Sex Swap, Miscarriage, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Age of Extinction (2014), References to Norse Religion & Lore, Slow Romance, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Submissive, Transformer Boobies, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Werewolf Transformer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-05-25 14:09:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6198019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valkyrjan/pseuds/Valkyrjan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many stories that I know. But there's a story that I haven't told you. The story tells about a Prime and a great warrior whose paths crossed together. The Prime suffered greatly in grief when the warrior came without warning and brought her away from the captivity. Unlike the rest she knew, the warrior was nothing she could've imagined. He was a Cybertronian Wolf Berserker with an inner curse. His name was Viðar. The Prime... was me, Optimus Prime.</p><p>*HUGE NOTE: FEMALE OPTIMUS AND TF/NORSE MYTHOLOGY HEADCANON*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Attacker

* * *

How long time was it since I was captured?

How long time was it since the Great War between us, the Autobots and the Decepticons ended that we lost it?

How long time was it since… Lockdown forced me to be his slave?

I’d forgotten everything. Solar cycle after solar cycle, stellar cycle after stellar cycle, I was bounded on his berth with my valve exposed and naked. Every time he came, he was over my and penetrated inside me against my own will. I had forgotten how many times he has slept with me. It had been so countless times. Countless times he abused me, controlled me, and even forced me to get sparked every time I was in my heat cycles and every time he spread his coding inside me...

Yes, I had been carrying sparklings. But none of them had survived. All of them were miscarriages as my body ejected them early. Lockdown had been a fool not recognizing the signs of my gestation cycles. He literally killed all of _his_ unborn sparklings.

This night it was not different. My wrists were free momentarily from the chains that hanged on the edges of the berth inside the highly secured slave cell I lived. Lockdown was lying beside me with his back against me, recharging deeply. I curled up like a ball with my hands around my waist, feeling the burning itchiness within my valve. I felt that I needed to get up and clean myself from the dirt spawning from inside. Fortunately, he was in his deepest recharge that nothing can wake him up easily, something that provided me a temporary moment for myself.

Slowly pacing to the private washing rack next to the room, I went silently and the doors slipped shut behind me.

 _Finally alone,_ I thought, feeling blessed for the loneliness.

Gently, my hand grabbed the holder and activated the shower with hot boiling water pouring over me. Streams flowing over my blue and red flamed upper body armor when I split my feminine chest plates apart and the Energon pouches with small nubs similar to female human nipples hung down, relieved to get free from being pressed inside. Already they had begun showing the first signs as they’d begun producing more Energon, a highly rich nutritious and fat one meant for only thing: to supply and nourish a sparkling. As predicated, I was in my fifty-fifth gestation period.

A low sigh escaped from me as I placed my hand on my midsection, right above the growing bump, feeling the little life kicking inside me. But as it happen, I got reminded once again. I was alone. My Autobots were gone. I had no idea if they were still alive or terminated. Once, I led them, protected them and guided them through harsh and unforgivable times throughout the war. But not only was I their leader. I was also a surrogate mother to many younglings who grew up into soldiers.

Again, only thinking the past as surrogate mother, it caused my carrier instincts to kick in. My spark cried after lives, both to take care and to produce a life inside me. But then, without warning, a pain struck through me. I recognized the pain instantly and instinctually. It was the rejecting.

No.

Not another miscarriage.

My worst fear had returned back again. My gestation chamber tensed up, cramping and then squeezing, repeating the cramps and squeezes as my frame pushed the early developing sparkling out from me. I had to stand with parted legs, one hand on the wall to stay steady while I held my other hand under my open and bleeding valve.

I panted and gasped as low as possible whereas I felt the little life being squeezed through my valve that widened as wide as possible to easily push the sparkling out. It went easy this time. Only a couple of pushes and it was out. I had it on my hand. It was a tiny, undeveloped sparkling. It hadn’t developed much. I estimated it must’ve reached only the first fourteen solar cycles. It had not got its frame developed yet. The sparkling was in the final stage of its embryonic development stage. What was left of it was a softly fleshy metal piece, its faded spark already dead.

“Why…” I whispered, hearing how broken my voice is.

My worst weakness I had was my love to sparklings and younglings.

I told myself that someday, once in an eternity of peace, I will be a carrier to many sparklings. But now I had suffered fifty miscarriages. All of them wasted thanks to Lockdown and his huge need to relief his own needs, and his fragging ignorance!

He will never be a great sire!

 _You shall pay this,_ I thought, hissing and planning for revenge. _You shall face justice one day and I swear I will rip your entire interface panel so you will never create sparklings!_

For the first time, I felt my will to fight back kicking in. So long I had been so submissive towards him. I’d had my moments of despair and discourage, also had felt how my will was very close to rupture apart and die, leaving me a weak-willed and powerless femme. No. Never shall I be a no one’s slave. After showing a long time, washing myself completely clean from the transfluids and the gestation fluids mixed with Energon, I made a quick check to make sure that I didn’t leave trails of dipping Energon between my legs.

Then I returned back to the berth, lying on my side with my back against him. However, it was a long moment that I stayed awake before I experienced the heavy sleepiness to kick in and I fell fast asleep.

But it’d become a short recharge.

Just then, loud high pitching alarms alerted throughout the entire Knight ship. I moved slightly up my head when I heard Lockdown’s erupting roar that forced me to wake up totally and I saw how he rushed out with furiously fast thuds, then suddenly a loud boom echoing outside that made me to jerk up.

Then there was the intensive roar that I had never experienced to hear before. It sounded primitive, yet Cybertronian at same time. An outraging one that sent shivers through my spinal column. The my audio receptors witnessed alien screams, yells, screeches and shrieks echoing throughout the entire ship in agony as I listened more the outraging primitive roars, causing me to shiver in fear for the first time for a very long time.

It was now that I ran. Despite being always checking nobody entered and I left from my cell, this time he had forgotten locking me. I was running for freedom. However, it was easier said than done as it got revealed that the whole ship was on fire. Everywhere was fully surrounded in intensively hot flames that ate through all metal structures. My frame blended in golden lights when I saw something. A shadow rose up inside the flames. It was Lockdown, injured. Around him lay corpses of his people, melted and rusted.

But it was not him that I held my optics on. No, it was the bright beast in front of him.

“ **Þú getur ekki drepa mig. Ék mun drekka þitt líf blóðið… allt saman. Hvert einasta dropa af blóði þínu.** ”

The beast spoke in a language I’d never encountered before. My optics widened in amazement and horror for the beast. It was a wolf whose body shines in thousands of solar stars it contained within its body. The red mane curled and waved as red nebula flames surfaced around it as the mane covered from the thickly furry neck, entire back to the tail. Extended fur expanded on the front legs from behind the paws to over the shoulders. What I can tell from its voice with unknown tongue, it was definitely a male wolf.

And what a scarred beast he was. Entire his sun shining body was covered in claw scar marks that glowed in lightly blue nebulas. The most striking ones were the two scars tracing over the left eye that was white by blindness, one scar longer than the other one as they covered from the forehead to the underjaw. Three scars lay on the right side of the snout. But the biggest and worst one lay under the chest. I estimated it must be most likely four to five meters long, appearing between the front legs and crossed to middle of his belly.

“What in the Pit are you, beast?!” Lockdown yelled, growling furiously and completely unaware of my presence. The bright sunlight made his darkly gray armor shimmering in lightly gray blending.

“Hehehe…” the sun wolf chuckled, and then it changed to a deeply evil laughter that did make him to tremble. The wolf then surprised us as he said: “I am known for many things. I am the one known as the Sun Devourer. I am known as the Solar Wolf. I am known as the Chaser of Sun Asynje’s Chariot. And I am known as Sköll, the firstborn son of Fenrisúlf.”

 _Sköll_ , I thought his name, stunned and puzzled. How did he know our language?

“Whoever you are so called Sköll,” Lockdown growled further, more aggressive, “I will not be defeated by some kind of wolf like you.”

“Heh, you’re so pathetic just like every living being in this galaxy. No one can capture me,” Sköll chuckled again with a hideous smile, revealing the garden of teeth. He had more teeth than an ordinary wolf would have. The sharp canine fangs thrust out. “And no one can control me. I’m not surprised why your true fate is to be doomed.”

“What did you just say? That I am doomed?!”

“Hehe… you really underestimate your fate, Lockdown. Do you know about the worst crime that exists onto the laws of the galaxy of Yggdrasil? It’s the crime of oath-breaking… You will suffer greatly in Náströnd in Queen Hela’s realm, Helheimr. You will fall into Niðhöggr’s jaws.”

“What the frag are you talking about, your filthy thing!?”

“Hehe, after all, all of you Cybertronians are banished. But what you will know now is that I know _when_ you’ll die. **Nú, Viðar!** ”

Suddenly, without warning, a shadow threw above me right behind me. It leaped above me, running straight through the fire right towards the bounty hunter who failed to realize before the shadow had already reached his back and sliced through him with one single bare hand whose fingers were clawed ones. The slice went through him entirely. It parted him apart into two halves just like a samurai master slashed another samurai into two halves.

I became shocked to witness it. By then I had fallen down and tried to crawl backwards when I saw how the shadow turned around and our optics met. I couldn’t see much of him, only that Sköll neared the attacker, the suns within him shining so bright that the attacker was engulfed of sunlight.

“ **Viðar, hvað eigum við að gera með henni?** ” again, Sköll spoke in the unknown language.

“ **Ék vil bjarga henni,** ” the attacker replied. He had a deep mysterious voice that I noticed immediately, “ **Móðir hefur sagt mér að ék þarf að sýna öðrum miskunn. Þú veit það, Sköll.** ”

“ **Sem þú vilt…** ” the sun wolf growled.

Then the attacker jumped.

I stopped moving in an instant when he approached me after landing right only less than ten meters from me. I vented fast as I stared at him. He sneaked forward with a narrowed gaze. The first detail I caught was that his optics were wolf optics, although they were sapphire blue ones.

“Who are you?” I asked, my deep feminine voice already betraying me.

“… I’m nobody,” he replied in my language unexpectedly. Then he raised his right hand and made a strange gesture, saying: “ **Svaf**.”

And that was all I can remember. The last thing I did remember though was how his right hand glowed up in a blue-white aura before I fell enchanted that forced me into a deep but dreamless recharge out of control.

* * *

The femme fell directly into fast recharge as I cast the Seidr spell of a sleep that can only be broken by you chose to break the spell by yourself. I held my optics on her, studying her carefully. She was the one I came for. Optimus Prime, the femme Prime of the Autobots. Her red-blue flamed and silver body made her looking like a goddess; the wide-chested breast plates, the round hips, the powerful arms and legs, and so the beautiful and peaceful face plates. Her breastplates were split apart and two heavy Energon pouches hung asides. She must’ve opened them up and forgotten to close them later.

I neared her to make sure she was in deepest recharge, and which she was.

“ **Is she in sleep, Viðar?** ” Sköll asked to me. He spoke in the ancient Jotun language.

“ **Yes, she is,** ” I replied without looking over my shoulder, speaking in same language. “ **She’s the one I came for, Sköll.** ”

“ **That she-Cybertronian?** ”

“ **Yes. She’s Optimus Prime, the last of the Primes.** ”

“ **The last of the Primes… I’m not surprised why you have dreamed so much about her lately. But why is she important for you?** ”

“ **Yet, if you can see what I see, think on my mind and feel me, why didn’t you notice it obliviously until now? You’re weird sometimes.** ”

“ **You know that I was in sleep when you called me, asking me for help. Besides, I didn’t feel I needed life blood.** ”

“ **That it’s why I am willing to offer it to you, Sköll. In return for your power, the entire ship is yours. Drink as much life blood from the dying souls. Once you’re done, I will leave you in peace.** ”

“ **Hehe, you never stop surprising me, Son of Cybertron.** ”

“ **Hm, I know. You can go free. We’ll meet on my ship.** ”

“ **Sure, Viðar.** ”

Then Sköll walked to the bounty hunter who captured Optimus on first place and took her away from Miðarðr. He bent his head down and the long hairs from his mane swung above him, touching the dead body and began sucking the life blood from him. I turned my focus back on Optimus where I wrapped my arms underneath her shoulders and knees, lifting her up and carried her through the flames. My ship was not far from us. It got spared from the fight. It was a stolen Valkyrie ship from Ásgarðr.

Ásgarðr.

I knew the Æsir and the Vanir will find out and start their hunt after me. I knew they’d do everything to get me and imprison me. After all… it was the Cybertronians who started the war between them, the Æsir and the Vanir on first place. The war occurred thirty thousands of years ago when the Æsir was a young species and guided by the Vanir. I didn’t blame the Cybertronians who caused the war on first place. I blamed the Æsir and the Vanir for misjudging and mistreating the Cybertronians as if they were Jotuns.

However, they didn’t know that Cybertronians weren’t related to the Jotun races.

Once inside the highly advanced and sophisticated ship that was tall enough for me to walk in, I lay Optimus on the berth, then turning to the cockpit and waited for Sköll to finish his feasting. Soon the Knight ship will explode. I had placed many bombs in the entire space ship that will detonate in display by my control. But then I turned my focus back on her again. So I rose up from the pilot seat and headed back to the femme Prime, kneeling one knee down. I needed to inspect and study more on her.

That was then I noticed that her interface panel was open as the exposed valve was visible. It appeared seemingly that the bounty hunter must’ve torn her interface panel so her valve will be forever naked and unprotected.

I felt disgusted. She didn’t deserve this.

 _You’ve been mistreated too long,_ I thought. _No one should’ve treated you like this._

I rose up on my feet again, walking to the opposite side of the ship, going through the cargo room where all the equipment can be found for everything the ship contained to keep it alive and functional. There were metal scraps that I collected by trade from different planets throughout the nine realms. I checked carefully after a suitable one or two, and once I found the ones I needed and measured the torn interface panel, I began working on a new interface panel to her.

It took one or two mega-cycles for Sköll to finish and return back to my body. Then it was simple. I activated the bombs and all of them detonated at once. The entire ship was engulfed in a bright explosion that brightened as bright like a star. I narrowed my optics to not get blind by the explosive light while I held the controller of the ship, driving us away from the scenery and pushed the thrust to the hyperdrive so we jumped through hyperspace. It went fast in the blink of an optic.

“ **Viðar…** ” suddenly Sköll’s growling voice echoed inside my processor. “ **If you want to keep the she-Cybertronian alive, never wake me up until she’s far, far away from you. After all… you have a promise to carry.** ”

“ **Yes. My promise to my mother.** ”

After that, Sköll had fallen into his hibernation.

While traveling, I activated the autopilot, though didn’t coordinate to any nearby planets. I had no plans to land on a planet yet. My highest priority was Optimus Prime. She must be stay safe and taken with great care. I wandered back to her. She was recharging deeply.

 _Optimus, you’re safe for now,_ I thought, placing my hand on her face and caressed the right cheek plate.


	2. Our First Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine Cate Blanchett as voice actor for Femme!Optimus

* * *

_Where am I?_

The first thing that woke me up was the distant humming noises from powerful engines. Slowly onlining my optics, I detected that I was lying on a berth that wasn’t inside a room but a part of a large cabin that had a central table with a blue holographic map over the galaxy. On opposite wall was a spiral formed staircase, surrounded with shelves containing many types of supplies from metal scraps, equipment, boxes held in cargo nets and even weapons from guns, swords, daggers, spears to even a plasma cannon hanging on the wall.

 _What is this place,_ I wondered.

It was then I sensed a presence of someone coming to me.

“So you’re awake at last, Optimus,” the deep voice was heard. Then I saw him. The attacker.

I was amazed to see him. He was broad-shouldered, pretty tall which I estimated his height to be above me and very muscular appearing. The chest had a wolf’s head divided on the middle with the pointy ears sitting on the collar bones, sticking up. On his lower arms he had wolf paws on the wrists. Silver fur was found on the thighs and behind the blue fibulas and the knee gears were paws. His armor was colored mostly blue and silver-gray but there were some red parts on the shoulder joints. His sapphire optics looked different this time. They weren’t wolf optics but ordinary optics. His gray face reminded me suddenly of a Scandinavian’s face; long and broad with blue cheek plates, high forehead with a silver crest, pointy but large nose plate and thick, black optic ridges between the forehead crest. The blue antennas appeared to be similar of wings like a Viking winghelmet.

At first I didn’t speak a word. I just stared at him when I noticed he carried something behind his shoulders. It was my sword and my shield! How did he get them?

“Here,” unexpectedly he removed them and handed them over to me. “I found them for you.”

I narrowed my optics and frowned while holding my sword on my hands to inspect it carefully. Then I looked at him again. “Who’re you?” I asked to him. “Are you the one who attacked the Knight ship?”

He narrowed his optics so they became thin, the sapphire optics glowing like flames. “Yes. I’m the one,” he answered simply, yet darkly as if he didn’t want to answer directly but had to do it anyway.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in my ship. You are in safe hands. I came to rescue you.”

“Rescue me?”

“Yes…”

I sensed something odd on him while he held his gaze at me in suspicion. “You better close your Energon pouches if you don’t want walk around naked here,” he motioned on my chest. He was right.

Frag! I forgot to close my pouches. Automatically, they pressed in as the breast plates covered over them. I felt embarrassed but more embarrassed over my torn interface panel, knowing that I was naked down there. Then the wolf-chested Cybertronian turned around to walk to the other side, grabbing something and returned back to me, now walking closer to me until he was only two steps from me, looking down at me. On his hand he had a panel. “I’ve made a new interface panel to you,” he said. “You deserve one.”

“Did you… make one? For me?” I didn’t believe on it. I stared at him questionable.

He nodded. “What Lockdown did you was disgusting. A real mech shall respect femmes, not using them for own needs.”

“How did you know?”

“I could sense the smell of fluids between your legs.”

I got confused hearing him saying that. What he meant he _sensed_ the smell of fluids. But then it hit me immediately as I realized what he meant. He meant the Energon, the transfluids and… the gestation fluids from my miscarriage.

As if he read my processor, he softened up as he kneeled down, saying: “Would you mind if I help you, Optimus?”

“Well, I’d like to do it for myself,” I told him, not feeling trusting him.

“Sure. But tell me if you need help,” he gave the panel over to me. Then he rose up and walked to the cockpit of this ship.

Alone, I stood up with parted legs and started putting the panel on place, trying to see if it was suitable. Much to my surprise it fitted perfectly. I must admit he had done a great work on it. Now when a new panel covering over my valve, I felt relieved to go not naked, and then I decided to explore the ship. The structure of this highly advanced and sophisticated space ship was slim and long with three levels. The middle level had the pilot cockpit, the map table, the single berth, the cargo room. On the top level had another pilot seat with instruments and three narrow cannons pointing out, which I believed to be a fight room during battles and windows covered it entirely, leaving an amazingly beautiful view of the space, the nebulas, the stars and the supernovas. The bottom level was the engine room with a hyperdrive core and the powerful drive core that had an engulfed plasma core as its main energy source.

The wings were six long eagle-winged ones that had four engines on the middle wings that were the longest ones. The wings shimmered brightly white with golden feather plates that were separated from the wings, yet held together by a gravity force. The tip of the ship was triangle-shaped like an eagle’s beak. It was a space ship I’d never imagined to witness. When I returned to the main level, I headed to the cockpit and saw the mech. The instruments and the systems looked completely different compare Cybertronians ones. It was confusing for me.

“Did the panel fit well?” he questioned without looking over his shoulder.

“Yes. It fits perfectly,” I thanked him. “Thank you. You did a great job on it.”

“You’re welcome.”

“By the way… where are we heading?”

“I have no plans to land on a planet yet. But I may need to travel to Utgárðr sooner or later.”

“Utgárðr?”

“Utgárðr is the main city of the Realm of Jotunheimr.”

“Jotunheimr?”

It was now that he watched over his shoulder. “I’m not surprised that you know nothing about Jotunheimr or the other Realms of our galaxy.”

“Realms?” I sat down on the co-pilot’s seat.

“You see, Optimus, there are nine areas that exist; the Nine Realms. The Realms are Ásgarðr, Vanaheimr, Jotunheimr, Álfheimr, Miðgarðr, Helheimr, Svartálfheimr, Muspelsheimr and Niflheimr. Right now we’re on the Realm of Vanaheimr and heading to the borders between this Realm and the Realm of Álfheimr,” he explained slowly and calmly. “The Realms have existed since the grandsons of Búri slayed Ymir, the first ancient Jotun and used every flesh, bone and blood of his body. His blood became the water of life, the flesh became planets, the bones mountains, the hair forests, the brains suns and the skull the center of our galaxy.”

I inclined my head, puzzled and fascinated over his words. He spoke so mysteriously. I didn’t understand a thing over what he was talking about, yet I couldn’t help to get curious. I remained silent.

“Well, I don’t expect you to know but Cybertron lays on the Realm of Jotunheimr.”

“Does it?” I widened my optics. “Is it true?”

“Yes.”

“I… I would like you to take me to Cybertron.”

He frowned, then removed his gaze from me to glare in front of him on the space. “I can take you there but I can’t promise you anything.”

“Why not?”

“Because...”

“Because of what?”

He then sighed. “I’ll take you there but only after we’ve visited Utgárðr. I need to meet Utgárðr-Loki.”

“Who is Utgárðr-Loki?” I asked.

“He’s the leader of the Jotuns and ruler of Jotunheimr. He controls all the colonies on the entire Realm.”

I opened my mouth to speak another question but quickly closed it for I had no words to ask more. Still, I didn’t know his name. “What’s your name?” I then asked his name.

“My name is Viðar,” he introduced himself.

“Viðar. That’s an unusual name you have,” I told him.

“I know,” he replied.

Our conservation ended like that. After a long moment, I decided to leave him alone and walked out from the cockpit to explore further on the ship. I studied every detail throughout the entire ship, getting more amazed over its scale, its structure and that it had a technology that was not Cybertronian. It was unknown technology my path never crossed with. Then I laid my optics on a snow-white furry cloak that hung next to the berth. It had a golden buckle with a sharp needle. The buckle was detailed like a wingless dragon that bit on its own tail, crafted with small and rare jewel stones that gave life to it. The handcraft on it was beautiful. But somehow it made me to remember something.

It was then I heard something. A sound of an engine that got activated and unleashed its power, then a force that made me almost to fall aside as the gravity pushed hard on me. “What’s happening?” I shouted to Viðar.

“Don’t worry. I’ve just activated the hyperdrive to travel through hyperspace,” he answered loudly so I can hear him through the humming sound. “It’s faster to get to Jotunheimr than traveling the speed we have momentarily. It’ll spare us two cycles.”

I chuckled dryly and continued exploring.

It must’ve taken more than half a mega-cycle before I got bored and walked to the central map table. I started to play on it. It showed on the entire galaxy. I typed on the keyboard that showed orange borders of nine vast areas.

 _They must the Nine Realms Viðar told me_ , I thought.

I typed more on the keyboard, picking one Realm and watched what solar systems it had. There were so many that I thought it must be thousands of them on one single Realm. I studied further when I picked on Jotunheimr. Just like he said, Cybertron was there. I put a finger on it and the map changed to Cybertron. Seeing my home planet brought many memories for me. It hurt to see my home planet. Once it was full of life, now it was ruined and dead one. I missed my home planet.

But just as it happened, I felt suddenly a sharp pain pitching through me right at the midsection. I recognized it. It was the pain that usually came after miscarriage. It was then the body rejected the last leftovers from the miscarriage. I felt warm Energon flowing inside my valve, and automatically my interface panel opened up and the Energon flowed down like rivulets on the inner thighs.

I grunted while I placed a hand on my midsection, the other one on the table’s edge as the pain struck like lightning inside me. I closed my optics tightly and bit on my under-lip plate when I felt two strong hands gripping me.

“Are you alright, Optimus?” Viðar sounded alerted, quickly wrapping his arms around me and lifted me up to a door near the cargo room that led to a washing rack. There he supported me on my feet, starting the shower and let the hot water washing over me. He kneeled down to check on my valve, inspecting if it was injured. Then he gave me the question I feared to hear: “Are you carrying?”

“No…” I shook my head. “But I’m suffering from a miscarriage that occurred not long time ago. It was my fifty-fifth one.”

“Fifty-fifth one?” Viðar glared at me in disbelief. His face changed fast into anger and disgust. “Unbelievable… Lockdown’s one fragging **djöfullinn**.”

“Beg me pardon?” I gazed down, confused over the word djöfullinn.

Viðar didn’t reply. He was extremely careful on every touch he did on me as he helped to push the leftovers as I felt my body ejecting them out. Once the leftovers were pushed out, he used the hot water to wash my bleeding valve. It burned a lot but I endured it along the pain that punched insanely. For a long moment, I endured. Then the pain faded and eventually vanished completely. Yet, the bleeding didn’t stop completely except it deceased from floods to only tiny drops. After that, I went out from the shower and cleaned myself with a towel. Viðar was kind to help me.

I sat down on the floor. He sat down too in front of me. “Are you alright?” he asked again. He sounded concerned for my wellbeing surprisingly.

“I feel not bad but not good either,” I answered, looking at him, sighing.

He frowned. “I suggest you to take it easy. You probably need some rest.”

Then he helped me up and we wandered out from the washing rack. We went to the berth and then he hurried to grab a cup with Energon. He handed it to me and I drank it up greedily. “Thank you,” I thanked him.

“You’re welcome,” his deep voice was soft. “Take some rest. I’ll tell you when we’ve arrived to Jotunheimr.”

“Thanks,” I thanked him again.

He left me. I sat down on the berth, lying on my back. I glanced on the roof for a moment before the exhaustion from the pushing and the pain kicked in and I fell into recharge.

**A few mega-cycles later**

My recharge was a short and troublesome one. I didn’t recharge well. I had dreamed a lot. I dreamed about the sun wolf Sköll. The dream showed the event when I witnessed Lockdown being killed by…

Viðar!

I realized suddenly something. Sköll was not seen here on this space ship. Where was the sun wolf?

Having difficult to recharge properly, I decided to rise up and walk to cockpit. But Viðar was not there. I searched after him and found him on the engine room. He was working on the hyperdrive core. I heard him groaning in frustration. It was then I saw that he had blue fur on his entire back, trailing from the neck, covering the shoulders and trailing over the spinal column.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned.

“Hyperdrive core has malfunctioned,” he snarled. “I have no affords to lose this one.”

“How bad is it?” I had already neared to him and stood beside him on his left side.

“Really bad. Without a hyperdrive, I cannot travel on far distances through hyperspace. But they’re so fragging expensive that it’s so unbelievable that they can cost a lot; a single hyperdrive is worthy to sell like ninety-nine slaves.”

I frowned worriedly. Then I thought on an idea. “I can be here and fix it while you’re in the cockpit.”

“No. I must be here and make sure it gets fixed properly,” he disagreed. “But on other hand… come with me.”

I followed after him. We walked up on the staircase and hurried to the cockpit there I sat down on the captain seat. “The controller is to steer the ship. The throttle is to accelerate speed. And this throttle is to activate the hyperdrive.”

“Okay,” I nodded, understanding.

“Here,” he then pointed a button on the upper instruments. “That button is for the speakers. You press it and you can contact me no matter what level I am.”

“But can you contact back?”

“Yes, I can. Each level has a contact system connected to this system. I have one close by so it will be no problem.”

“I understand.”

Quickly done, he left to hurry to the engine room. Yet, despite being instructed once, I had to repeat it. I repeated the controller, the large acceleration throttle and the hyperdrive throttle and finally the speaker button. I repeated three times until I felt certain about it. I pressed the button.

“Viðar, how’s going down there?” I heard how loud the speakers were, too loud for my taste.

“ _It’s going well down here,_ ” Viðar contacted back. “ _Optimus, try to push the hyperdrive throttle._ ”

“Alright,” I responded. I laid my hand on the throttle and gently pushed it forward. Nothing happened. No humming sound was heard or the gravity force occurred. I pressed on the button again. “Nothing is happening.”

I heard another frustrated groan. “ ** _Helvíti!_** ” I assumed he swore. I rolled my optics, not because of annoyance but because of it was funny to hear him swearing an unknown swearword.

Less than half a mega-cycle later, he contacted me again and requested me to push the throttle again. I obeyed. Again, nothing happened. I contacted back, telling him it failed again and he swore with the same word from earlier. I chuckled a bit. Then a third try followed shortly and same result came, then a fourth one and same result. But it was the fifth try that it finally worked. As I pushed the throttle, the endless space changed as a portal appeared and we flew right through it. The tunnel glowed in blue nebula lights as the force was outstandingly unbreakable to get free from.

I pressed the button quickly. “It’s working!”

“ _Finally!_ ” he shouted in relief. I laughed.

The travel through hyperspace lasted only another half a mega-cycle before we arrived on the other side. What was ahead of us was an enormous gas planet almost the same size as Jupiter. It was rusty-red and brightly orange. I saw lightning storms raging without an end. By then, Viðar had already come back to the cockpit and looked on the planet with a grin on his face.

Just as it happened, we saw suddenly nine space ships flying towards us. The ships were darkly gray with red biolights patterns on the wings in an alarming speed.

“ **Hver er það sem er að komuna til Utgárðr?** ” the radio got life by a darkly huskily voice.

“ **Þetta er ék, Viðar** ,” Viðar spoke the language. My interest enhanced instantly. What was he telling? What did the words mean? “ **Ék kem í friði.** ”

“ **Fylgdu okkur** ,” the voice responded. It seemed like he gave us an order to follow them.

“ **Já** ,” Viðar replied. He cast his gaze on me. “Move to the co-pilot seat.”

I obeyed immediately. Once seated on place, we followed after the ship before us. The other eight ships swarmed around us as if they’d block on any escape way for us. I tensed up as we approached closer and closer towards the massive blood-red twisting storm that raged with thousands of white lightning. The closer we came, the more tensed I became. I felt so tensed that my arms began quivering in spasms. As it happened, Viðar reached out a hand to my hand, giving a gently squeeze. “It’s alright,” he comforted softly. “The storm may see merciless but wait until you see how it opens up.”

Before I could reply, I witnessed how the storm opened up without warning. It revealed that there were long pillars that held a powerful gravity force that forced the lightning and the winds away, blue lightning sparking between the pillars. A massive gaping hole had appeared. A tunnel went through the portal. We flew into it. Once all space ships were inside, slowly the pillars closed the entrance and it was now I saw an entire world hidden within the merciless storms. The high skyscrapers were everywhere, dark colored ones with windows covering every structural position and there were thousands of space ships flying around in a stable traffic.

I was amazed to see the alien city. Because it was dark due the clouds were so thick that it prevented sunlight going in, all the black buildings were in orange neonlights. We arrived on a station there plenty of other alien space ships parked, departed or arrived. When we found a parking to park our ship, Viðar rushed to the berth there the cloak hung and took it, then he turned back to me. He covered it over my shoulders and closed the buckle up, then pulled the hood over my head.

“Optimus, listen to me,” he said serious. As it happened, he grabbed my left wrist. I discovered quickly that he had handcuffs. His right wrist was already closed and so he closed my left wrist with the handcuffs. We were tied together. “Here on Utgárðr, you must stay strictly close to me. The Jotuns here… they cannot be trusted. You must pretend behaving like a slave to me. Okay?”

At first, I was stunned over his action. I would’ve yelled at him but I didn’t. Instead I simply nodded, acknowledged the fact that I must behave like a slave now when we had arrived here. And so we walked out from the space ship and began our journey through the city.


	3. Utgárðr-Loki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine Viðar has a mixed accent between British, Norwegian and Finnish. Sounds little funny huh?
> 
> And... Benedict Cumberbatch is Sköll's chosen voice actor if you wish to know.
> 
> Note: I edited the first two chapters due some misspelled words I failed to detect, which I apologize much for. If you find anything misspelled or wish to give some criticism, don't hesitate and shout it out. And yes, there's a lot of words in bold text. It's a way to seperate languages between the Jotun language and the native language Optimus has through Viðar's POV.

* * *

Utgárðr.

What a waste for a city. Wherever you went, there was the dense smog that poisoned everything with a toxic that showed no mercy to anyone. It was not first time for me to sense the awful stench. It smelled like rotten scrap that got a lot of shit from a mountain Jotun’s aft on top of it. The filth sweeping around here made me disgusted even more. I’d sworn thousands of times to never come here, and yet, I always ended up here for reasons. I didn’t get it.

The citizens here were the same. All filthy, all sly and all treacherous Jotuns, trolls, ogres and goblins that brought more problem than luck and that I had learnt myself never trust anyone, either inhabited merchants, traders from different colonies, blacksmiths, foretellers, immigrants, slaves or even Utgárðr-Loki himself. On other hand, despite all, the Jotuns had still the sense of justice. If one broke a rule or a law, either by mistake or purpose, they made a trail to see if the lawbreaker showed regret, guilt and shame for it or showing satisfaction for breaking the rule or the law. As long the suspicious one spoke in truth, he or she will be put on one test to convince his or her that he or she was innocent.

The test was exposing the memory.

The accused one will connect itself with a cable that linked to a machine creating holograms of the memories from the day when the crime occurred and it usually told the judge of the consequences of the actions. However, if the accused one lied or hid something from the judge, it will be forced to go through it anyway. It was the same with the eyewitnesses. Perpetrator and eyewitness, whatever they were, must speak the truth and expose their memories to convince with enough of evidence.

If one of them had to hide them for a reason, such as the person turned out to be a victim of a rape who didn’t want to reveal it because of threats, the victim will be taken with well care and sent to a protection home there – it was often she-Jotuns and female slaves – they got proper help to recover from their trauma, and slaves getting a slight chance for better freedom. If one was an eyewitness of a murder, he or she will help the **lög verndarar** – the law guardians – to find the perpetrator and sent him or her to the great prisons there all great criminals were sentenced for many crimes I didn’t want to know.

When it was done, the judge will make their decision but the strangest thing I can tell was it if the criminal was responsible for the crime, he or she will make the choice how he or she wished to die. Usually that occurred only in the worst crimes; murder, rape and the ultimate one oath-breaking. Breaking an oath was the worst thing that can ever happen. So far, I had been careful to avoid breaking my oaths.

While walking through the crowded streets, I held Optimus closely into me. The handcuffs tied us so close that none of us can go apart without saying the code word to the handcuffs, which was spoken in runes. Heh, runes. Runes were riddles that you must solve up before you can properly read their meanings. Thank Yggdrasil that Optimus cannot read or understand a single rune. Quickly I cast a gaze on Optimus. The hood covered over her face completely but I could see how much curiosity her optics revealed. It must’ve been overwhelming for her to visit this city for the first time. Heh, what can I tell? Not a single Cybertronian had ever visited Utgárðr before except me.

The enormous skyscrapers rose like darkly spiky mountains whose peaks had cracks that tore through them. Further away from the central city lay massive factories that puked densely darkly orange smog. The entire city was protected by a force field that protected it from the intensive thunderstorms that raged without an end. This gas planet’s cloudy atmosphere was the worst of its kind when it came to the winds. The winds blew so hard and so fast that if you were outside the protected shell, you’d be good as dead as the winds consumed you into the twisters. Also, the force field blocked the lethal toxic gas that ruled over the planet, and provided an atmosphere suitable for life to breathe in different types of oxygen so any species from many colonies can still survive and thrive here with less to no problems.

I stayed on my guard. I didn’t slow down a single nano-cycle. We almost jogged through the streets when we arrived on a large market street filled with merchants selling all exotic supplies, equipment and even slaves, though those who traded slaves were very few since this, along the rest of market streets, had a major rule that those who wished to sell slaves weren’t allowed. But sadly I knew that slaves were sold in the underworld of this city in the black market.

“Viðar,” then I heard Optimus’ voice whispering. “What are these people?”

“They’re traders from different colonies. They’ve come here for best sells,” I explained to her. I noticed her wary curiosity as she gazed around with wondrous optics. Hadn’t she seen rare exotic supplies before?

**_Of course she hasn’t seen them before, Viðar. What did you expect from her?_ **

Suddenly Sköll’s voice was heard, echoing inside my sensitive audio receptors. I ignored him directly. It worked immediately for Sköll wouldn’t pay much attention what I saw, what I heard and what I thought. Just as I thought he fell back in his hibernation.

“I wish I could explore here,” Optimus whispered again. It triggered me to take a drastic action. I pulled her wrist and we hurried to an alley there I pressed her against the wall and shot a deadly glare at her. I tossed the hood behind her neck.

“Listen carefully…” I raised my voice, yet whispering low so no one heard us. “I told you that the Jotuns here cannot be trusted. If I’d let you go freely, you would get caught instantly… and they’d not hesitate to sell you as a slave.”

“Then why did you force me to be cuffed with you?” she surprised me when she hissed, barring her dentas. I saw a glimpse of a fire burning on her blue optics. She wanted to fight back.

**_Now that I call a real shield-maiden to a she-Cybertronian, Viðar. She’d be very great companion for you… and very useful one too._ **

_Enough, Sköll,_ I responded through our thoughts. _I’m not going to treat her like a personal slave. Right now I have to treat her like a slave now when we’re here._

**_I know. Yet, I must admit she’s got fire inside her._ **

“Well, shall we move on or will you interface me here?”

Hearing those words coming from her made me reacting strongly. Without warning and without a single thought I used my free hand and grasped her throat gear, though not threatening to squeeze it and choke her. I barred my dentas that were more wolf-like ones. But despite all, Optimus didn’t leave her gaze from me or did she show any fear. Instead she shot a sharply determined glare.

_I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to fall into your trap without a fight._

That was how her optics told me. Optimus was not going to give up without a fight.

“Optimus Prime,” I snarled aggressively. “Do you have a death wish?”

No reply came. The only answer I received was her glare. I could’ve sworn that I heard how hard clenched her jaws was so they creaked. The fire inside her optics glowed brighter. My grip on her throat gear thickened.

“Do you have a death _wish_?” I repeated, now more threatening.

Still no reply, only the same sharp glare from her. Then she snarled back as she answered: “Do you want to control me?”

**_Control her? Viðar, you must put that she-Cybertronian on place. She’s not safe here. If she doesn’t obey you… then allow me to show what ‘we’ can do._ **

_No, Sköll! I’m not going to force to obey under my control,_ I disagreed. _She does not deserve it._

**_Then you better show her how dangerous these Jotuns are really. Take her to one of the battle rings and make her witness what the warriors can do. Or better… you join yourself in a battle and she’ll feel regretful._ **

_The battle rings you say, huh,_ I taunted back but Sköll had a good point there. I must show her how treacherous they are really. _You’ve got a good point there. Maybe I can use it as an alternative to afford an engineer to check the hyperdrive core._

**_Indeed. Once you’re done with Utgárðr-Loki, you can take her to the battle rings._ **

_So be it,_ I agreed.

“Do you want to control me?” again Optimus repeated the words, growling like a lioness.

“… No. I’m not going to control you,” I replied, yet snarling. “But I do this for your own safety. If you don’t obey me, I will drag you to the battle rings and you’ll witness what the Jotuns can really do against other races.”

She didn’t reply as I predicted. But then, slowly I let my hand go from her, leaving her throat gear free. Still she didn’t say a word. The glare didn’t soften though. Instead it became sharper as she narrowed her optics so they became thin lines. “Whoever you are, whatever you are,” finally she spoke up after a pause. “I will not let you break me down like Lockdown did to me.”

Now it was my turn not to answer. I pulled her wrist and she flew at me as I pressed her, my free hand placed behind her aft and our interface panels touched each other, though it was not meant for a mating dance. I glanced down at her. “You don’t know me yet,” my voice vibrated with a growling noise. “If I were you, I’d better stay on the safe side than wandering on thin ice…”

She never responded. She shot another sharp glare at me, seeing more disgusted over my touch on her aft and ourselves pressed on our bodies like a loyal pairing with a dark secret lurking below the surface. Tension burned between us. Our gazes refused to abandon one and other. It might last short but it felt like lasting forever when I pushed her away from me, then pulling her so I dragged her aside me with the hood over her head. Once again we were in hurry as we went through the market, ignoring everything on our path.

My processor was focused on one and only one thing. The Great Hall. While wandering through the crowds, I cast many looks at Optimus and made sure she didn’t pay attention to the Jotuns and she remained completely silent.

The streets were linked to a great square shaped like an entire circle with nine major streets connected.

_Nine._

The most sacred number of all numbers in the entire galaxy of Yggdrasil.

On the middle of the square stood the Great Hall, a catholic cathedral that had nine peaking towers. The eight towers followed the circled cathedral while the final ninth one rose on the middle of the massive basilical nave. The gargoyle statures were shaped like wolves, valravns where are raven-like wolves, lindworms that twitched in knots and bit their own tails, long ships with widespread seals and warriors with swords, shields and axes. All of them had gruesome expressions to bring fright and a constant reminder that the Jotunheimr are one of the Nine Realms and that the Jotuns had always been long ancient enemies to the Æsir and the Vanir.

But I didn’t think the Jotuns were much as lethal enemies to them. I rather saw them as a mighty people who were also the very oldest race that were born from the very blood of Ymir himself. I was not surprised at all to know the three Jotun races ruled the three Realms of Muspelheimr, Niflheimr and Jotunhemir.

Ah, yes, I hadn’t told you about the three Jotun races yet.

The three races are Eiðr Jotuns, Ríme Jotuns and the ordinary Jotuns which you’d met so far. The Eiðr Jotuns inhabited on Muspelheimr and the Ríme Jotuns inhabited on Niflheimr. The two races rarely left their primal Realms due they had primal forces that can’t be controlled outside the Realms of Muspelheimr and Niflheimr. But unlike them, the ordinary Jotuns can control forces throughout the entire galaxy and even in the primordial Realms. Yes, Muspelheimr and Niflheimr were the first Realms to exist actually. Legends said that they embraced round the very depthless void of Ginnungagap.

Muspelheimr, the Realm of primal fire and diving light.

Niflheimr, the Real of ancient ice and eternal darkness.

Yes, there were many overwhelming things to learn and melt it in and eventually acknowledge it.

The smog was getting denser much to my dislike. The stench thickened into more like a poisonous toxin that infected every living being’s lungs, giving them a slow and painful struggle against an infection that was untreatable and eventually they died. I checked on every corner of my head with my sensors alert and wary. Just like always everyone here had their minds on their own businesses and didn’t pay any mind on us two that towered them completely.

“Here we are,” I neared my head into Optimus, though not looking at her but had my optics on the widely huge double-door gate with impressively detailed crafted hardwood with lindworms sprawling like roots of a tree. The door frames were covered in pure gold.

“By Primus…” were her only words as she glanced up on the cathedral speechless.

“Impressive?” I whispered back, amused over her amazement. “Wait until we get inside.”

Then we walked to the gate when I heard similar voices that caused me to look up. On either sides of the gate, I saw two faces sticking out from two holes. Guards.

“ **Oiy! Who wish to enter the Great Hall?** ” the first one asked with a huskily voice in the Jotun language, yelling because it was pretty noisy around the cathedral.

“ **It’s me, Viðar,** ” I told the first guard, yelling back to clarify my identity. “ **I’ve come in peace but I need to see your ruler urgently.** ”

“ **Who is the one next ya?** ” the second guard asked, who was a goblin. The helmet-covered face had two thick tusks sticking up on the jaw, which I found it funny for he looked like a wild boar. He pointed his spear at Optimus.

“ **She’s my personal slave. She’s not in sell you shall know that,** ” I replied, sounding more threatening like I was defending her from them, though I did that to mark my territory over her and tell the Jotuns that no one was allowed to near her.

“ **We’ve got a third question for ya before y’ll enter** ,” both of the guards yelled at same time. I was prepared for it.

_Three questions before you can enter_. That said the rule.

“ **Alright, say it loud,** ” I nodded while yelling to them with my permission.

“ **Ain’t ya feeling havin’ enough visitin’ here on Utgárðr?** ” both of them made the silliest joke to a question. The guards laughed. I felt angry to get teased by them. Foolish guards. What do they think they are something?

“ **If you don’t open the gate for us, I will unleash firstborn son of Fenrisúlf upon you,”** I barked as loudest and as threatening I got. “ **He would be so glad to drink your lifeblood!** ”

Directly it gave a quick result as them became frightened to death suddenly and then they vanished inside the peeking holes. My sensitive audio receptors detected them calling orders to open the gate and slowly we heard how the gate creaked slowly, opening like a flower and then we went inside.

Inside the entire hall was even more impressive than outside. The Great Hall looked more gigantic than what it appeared on outside. The tall and colossus aisles were covered in pure gold, engraved with millions of rare jewel stones, crystals and minerals. Flames danced on nine colossal hearths, giving the hall a bright, graceful life of glimmering, glittering and shining lights in gold and crystallized glitters. Compare to outside, inside here it was very bright like you’d walk on a sunny summer’s day. On the walls hung thousands of shields with crossed swords, spears and axes behind them, craniums from many kinds of strange alien species I either encountered before or not, and there were tapestries hanging further forward. On the aisles sat torches. The painted roofs demonstrated great battles in rivers of blood.

Just as we arrived and as the gate closed behind us, three craw-like alien birds flew down to us, flapping in front of us with narrowed long beaks, night-black and slim batwings and triangular tail feathers.

**_None shall go through the door,_ **

**_Without looking around,_ **

**_Without exploring,_ **

**_Thou unsurely it is,_ **

**_Where rivals sits on the benches,_ **

**_Inside the hall,_ **

I knew the rule very much like always. It was a warning that every warrior who entered in every hall everywhere throughout the galaxy must be aware for. It told that if you had an unfriendly rival sharing the same hall, you must be carefully wary and prepared for any chance of battle. Therefore the rule said that everyone sharing inside the hall must behave and tolerate each other’s presences even for rivals. I then glanced down on Optimus. She looked up at me with a childish confusion.

“They spoke the major rule to behave and not causing troubles for others,” I explained to her.

“Beg me pardon,” she then whispered to me. “But what kind of language are they speaking? I’ve never heard such a mysterious language before.”

“I will tell you later once we’re aboard my ship,” I said. “I promise.”

She nodded. Then we moved on.

The hall was fully crowded with many Jotuns swarmed altogether, all sorts from great warriors fully armored with brynjas, thieves, archers, magicians, rogues, assassins to female Jotuns bringing drinking horns filled with sweet mead. Three hearths out of the nine hearths were used to roast overweighed bulls, wild boars, horses and crocodile-like lizards stuck on fire-proofed metal sticks. All the skin got brownish red as they became crispy whereas the flesh remained juicy within, yet it didn’t stayed raw for long. The atmosphere was thriving with scents from juicy roasted meat, sweet mead, stinky sweat and bitter smoke as every guest sang, cheered and joked with many stories, hilarious ones for some.

Some had even female Jotuns sharing their joyful entertainment. Ugh, there were even some female Jotuns dancing on nine large circled tables, completely naked ones with expensive golden necklaces, arm rings, wrist rings and ankle rings with glittering jewelry stones.

On the heart of the Great Hall sat the mighty throne. The throne was heavily handcrafted in ancient Jotun traditions in darkly brown wood that survived thousands and thousands of light years. The engraved symbols demonstrated twisting and twitching lindworms. On the armrests lay two carnivore craniums with saber teeth shining like knives, the back support the very symbol of Yggdrasil itself; the mighty ash tree with its branches and roots spread out, symbolizing the very life of our galaxy.

And there I saw him.

Utgárðr-Loki.

Like always, the Jotun Lord sat on his throne. He was a giant one, covered in a furry sleeve-free tunic with a black bear fur cloak behind his back and knee-long boots in black bear fur. His powerfully muscular arms were hairy like always. Two buckles sat on the shoulders, holding the cloak on place. Round his waist had he a golden belt with the loyal sword side by side. Around his neck hung a necklace with craniums from alien animals and some humanoid skulls I assumed coming from poor humans from Miðgarðr. Between the craniums shined rare blood diamonds in bright lights as they were transparent through them. The muscular face had darkly red beard and hair curling down like long, gently waves. The large eyes were black ones.

Next to one of his legs sat a half-naked female Jotun, posing herself sexually. On the opposite leg posed another female Jotun, half-naked too. They were fatty ones with big breasts, wearing expensive golden jewelries round their necks, arms, wrists, ankles and even their tails since they were hybrids between Jotun and troll. Hybrids were common to see since Jotuns co-existed with trolls, ogres and goblins in harmony and they had no shame sharing and mixing their genes to create hybrids. The females spotted us and both rose up to pose themselves better to reveal their huge need for sex.

Sex.

Frag it. Why had Jotuns, trolls, goblins and ogres so much lust for sex? I never understand them.

“ **Well, well** ,” Utgárðr-Loki’s dark voice rumbled, pleasured to see me to my surprise. Had he expected me to come? “ **Once again you return, Viðar.** ”

“ **Yes, Lord of Jotunheimr** ,” I replied, kneeling down with a bowing head. Optimus behaved the same way too. “ **I’ve returned in peace.** ”

“ **I haven’t expected you coming so soon** ,” he said in a friendly way. He did that to greet his guests and those who wished to speak with him like always to show his generosity. His sly grin shaped on his face. I and Optimus rose up on our feet again.

“ **I didn’t expect much to come so soon either** ,” I answered. “ **But I came here because I need an engineer to inspect my hyperdrive core. It got malfunctioned during my trip here and I want to have someone taking a proper check on it. But I cannot afford much for I’m out of credits.** ”

“ **I can help you like always,** ” he grinned wider. “ **But you know there’s a price each friendliness I make to help those who wish my presence.** ”

“ **I’m aware of that. However, the truth is I came here for another reason above the malfunctioned hyperdrive core** ,” then I surprised him saying that, and I spoke with honesty.

“ **Oh, tell me what your reason is…** ” the Jotun Lord clapped one of the hybrids with his hand on her ass, leaning forward with his other hand on the chin, the thick fingers playing his beard.

“ **I’m not sure if you’ve sensed it lately** ,” I ignored the view and stared straight through his eyes. “ **But I’ve sensed a disturbance in the Seidr. At first, I thought it must’ve come from a battle but this disturbance didn’t feel like usually. It felt odd.** ”

No interruption came from him. He showed interest on his eyes so he waved his hand to permit me to continue.

“ **I searched after the main core of the disturbance. I searched for a long time but I could never find it. And then I heard rumors being spread around on the Realms of Álfheimr, Svartálfheimr and some colonies in Vaneheimr.** ”

“ **Rumors?** ”

“ **I didn’t hear much of them but I remember some of them.** ”

“ **Tell me.** ”

“ **The rumors I remember rumored about a reincarnation. I don’t know much about it. Only it mentioned it had something with Völvas to do with.** ”

Again, the Lord didn’t interrupt. He was completely focused to listen on me, fully interested. I used only my free hand to create gestures to describe things. Optimus remained silent with her head bent, well hidden under the hood.

“ **I don’t believe in the rumors but it doesn’t mean it’s meaningless to cause me to arrive here and to tell you about it. I sensed you might’ve heard them and sensed the disturbance within the Seidr too.** ”

Now I saw how he scratched on his chin with observing and narrowed eyes. I guessed he’d got thoughtful about it. Then he said: “ **I haven’t heard those rumors you mentioned so far, but it’s absolutely right that I have sensed the disturbance within the Seidr too. Like you said, it was a strange one.** ”

“ **I can agree with it too** ,” I nodded. “ **Something like that had to occur for a purpose unknown so far.** ”

But then I noticed how the Jotun Lord glimpsed his gaze at Optimus. “ **Who is the one next to you?** ” he pointed at her.

“ **She’s my personal slave. She’s not for sell either** ,” I snarled, marking my territory over her again.

Just as predicted he raised his hand up, signing he meant no harm. “ **It’s alright. Besides, she’s too big to be a slave to any Jotun here. She’s suitable for you only. Anyway… back to the one with the malfunction hyperdrive core. You said you have no credits to afford an engineer to inspect on it.** ”

“ **That is correct. But I came on a thought** ,” I then spoke out my suggestion. “ **Instead paying, why not making a deal that I’ll fight in the battle rings? If I win, I’ll get the credit I need and pay the engineer. If I lose, I’ll leave this planet immediately without any inspection.** ”

“ **Well, it sounds like a good deal but I’d like to make it more justice one. I allow you to fight in the battle rings on one condition.** ”

“ **Speak it out.** ”

“ **I want you to fight against nine great fighters at one round only. If you defeat them all, you’ll grant much credit, even more than you need and I will order one of the best engineers I know to take the best proper inspect on it. If you lose, you can leave with an uninspected hyperdrive just like you said.** ”

“ **Nine fighters. Give me nine giant ones because I don’t want to fight against regular sized ones and it’d be unfairly to do that way, knowing that they would not have a single chance against me.** ”

“ **I’ll check after it. When would it suit for you to fight?** ”

“ **I’d like to do that in a megacycle or two. My slave here has not learnt about Jotuns and I want to give her a lesson about your great people.** ”

**“Ah, clever. You better make sure she’d not flee once she witnesses it whole.** ”

“ **I wouldn’t allow her to flee even a single chance. I will chain her properly. But I want give you one condition. I want no one, either Jotun, ogre, goblin or troll to dare to touch her. If I see someone daring to touch her, I will unleash _him_.** ”

“ **Oh, don’t dare unleashing the firstborn son of Fenrisúlf, Viðar. You know how much I fear him and I don’t want him to bring destruction over Utgárðr.** ”

**_Do it, Viðar. I would be so glad to slay them all and drink their lifeblood._ **

_Sköll, it’s not a good idea,_ I hissed in response. _Utgárðr is an important main trade center for many. You know that, beast._

“Viðar, what’s going on here?” suddenly Optimus whispered for the first time. “I want to know what you’re saying.”

“Not now, Optimus,” I whispered back with a little jerk on our handcuffed wrists. “I’ll speak once I’m done with him.”

“ **Oh, what a curious slave you have, Viðar** ,” Utgárðr-Loki sneered, smirking. Then he changed his mother language to the language Optimus was used to speak. “Well, well, tell me who you are, slave.”

Now Optimus shot her focus on him but didn’t pull the hood back as if she didn’t want to reveal herself. It took not long until she spoke up with her softly deep voice. “I’m a Cybertronian.”

His eyes and eyebrows thrust up. “A Cybertronian… I’d never expected to see another Cybertronian aside Viðar walking here in Utgárðr,” he sounded amused. “Oh, Viðar, my dear old friend… you’ve got really lucky indeed.”

I didn’t reply to it. I glared on the Prime, frustrated over she uncovered herself by only saying under our conversation. But still, thank Yggdrasil that she hadn’t identified herself by name. If she’d mentioned her name… then we are not safe here.

“Viðar, I suppose your slave has no idea about here,” Utgárðr-Loki smirked slyly, almost chuckling. “I’m impressed you brought one Cybertronian here, yet I’d like you to take her away to safety.”

Hearing him saying that startled me. _To safety? Why?_

**_If I were you, I would keep her strictly into me and make sure she be protected and sealed inside a barrier._ **

_A barrier, Sköll,_ I questioned. _What do you mean with a barrier?_

**_Simple. Allow me to enchant a sealing barrier that would prevent others to even reach her. Yes, even better an invisible barrier. I know some Seidr spells for barriers._ **

_Then did you decide to suddenly help me,_ I questioned more. I felt something was happening with Sköll oddly. He had never been like this before.

**_Well, I sensed you need some help from me this time. You should be grateful for my offering to help you. After all, she’s different what I have noticed._ **

_It’s not your business, Sköll,_ I shut him up. _She got rescued for a reason you’re not permitted to know! You have no rights to know what reasons I have for her._

**_Oh, Viðar, you never stop surprising me. Alright then, when we go to the battle rings, you must shift yourself to me though if I shall cast the barrier over her. But don’t worry, you can throw the sleeping spell upon her and she will not see me._ **

_Sköll...,_ I tried to think what to say next.

**_Don’t worry, Viðar. I feel your concern for her. I will not harm her. Besides, I haven’t forgotten the awfully disgusting taste of an Autobot’s lifeblood. Ugh, you know what I mean._ **

_Shut up, Sköll,_ I shut him up for the second time. _I’m aware of that and I haven’t forgotten it either because you forced me to drink it too on first place._

“Utgárðr-Loki, I choose rather to take her with me than taking her back to my ship,” I denied the Jotun Lord’s suggestion. “Besides, like I said, she must take a lesson about your people.”

“Alright then,” as I thought, he seemed to accept it, but you can’t be too sure about it.

Utgárðr-Loki himself may look like a generous Lord who offered much mead, meat and women for everyone in his hall, but the truth was he was a harshly notorious Jotun Lord with a sly mastermind who used Seidr to win over his enemies. I had fallen some of traps before so I had taught myself never trust him even if he meant it well. One of his weaknesses was making deals though. He was a gamer and a bad loser too. But this time, he seemed wanting to help me though but that was probably that I made my deal with fighting in the battle rings, which he appreciated a lot. The Jotun Lord’s love for watching battle shows was one of the weaknesses he had. And women too.

“ **Well then, Lord of Jotunheimr,** ” I returned speaking the ancient language. “ **I will meet you in the battle rings soon.** ”

“ **Yes, indeed,** ” he nodded and waved us that told me he allowed us to leave. “ **I’m glad to see you taking a fight in the battle rings again… _Úlf Berskir._ ”**

“Come, we’re leaving,” I pulled Optimus again and this time we hurried out from the Great Hall and rushed outside to the smoggy world again.

Once outside, I took the path up to the northwestern major street, walking with fast feet through the market and ignored the rest. I threw my head over my shoulder to check no one was following after us and looking on Optimus too. She was keeping the pace up. But it was least of my problems. The main reason I checked on my shoulder was keeping an optic if the Jotun Lord had sent one of the birds we met earlier. Not only they guarded the gate to remind every guest about the rule but they were also his eyes and ears too.

Then quickly I dragged Optimus into an alley that was empty of people. There was a gate with a huge sign written in black runes, warning for every passenger and behind it there was nothing but a long alley nearly pressed against two massive buildings.

_Those who dare to enter may either survive out full skinned or die in meaningless death._

It was one of many warning signs that were meant for only one thing. They warned about the battle rings that usually occurred underground. Also, the gate was enchanted with a sealing barrier that can only open if you spoke the code runes. It was a second safety that prevented others who wished to enter but can’t access. Luckily for me, I came to this entre often since it was the closest one and the largest one for me to go straight through. I neared closely to the gate, looking up.

“ **Fehu** ,” I said the code rune and the gate opened up slightly with a rasping creak.

I opened it wider so both I and Optimus could go in without any issues. When we crossed to the other side, the alley had vanished ahead of us. It was an illusion. Behind the illusion lay the truly view. There was a large gaping hole with a staircase trailing down into the gaping mouth of the darkness.

We walked down calmly, yet our feet thudded so it echoed through the walls as we entered the darkness, the path leading us deeper and deeper underground. Then came the first lights from wall torches that led us to the massive halls there everything happened. But long before that we heard how extremely noisy it was down there. We heard shouts in excitement, roars in fury and yells in agony or more excitement. I could without doubt sense the high tension swarming inside the overheated atmosphere.

When we came down there, we were met by a densely overcrowded hall that was even six times larger of the size of the Great Hall itself. There were three battle rings; the first one was the largest one, the second one the medium sized and the final one the smallest one. All of them were meant for three sizes. The largest one was only for large warriors and gang fights, the medium-sized one for regular warriors but the smallest one was actually more like a training ring for newcomers, trainees and troll warriors, but still battle shows occurred there too.

The battle rings were built for only one purpose: gladiator games. The shows were pretty messy ones if I don’t mention extremely violent, bloody and gruesome ones that even I can get sick in my tank and wanted to puke up just seeing the blood sked painted every wall, ground, weapons and the bodies.

“Viðar, what is this place?” now I heard how frightened Optimus had become, or rather said, sounding more likely shocked seeing the view.

“Optimus Prime,” I said her name. “Welcome to the battle rings.”

Firstly, she stared straight at me with wide open optics, stunned. The hood shadowed her face enough so none would fix focus on her, yet I felt suddenly uncertain for the first time since we got here. The feeling was a similar one I was used to get. I sensed a bad feeling.

**_It’s now or never, Viðar. You have to do it._ **

_I know, Sköll,_ I replied completely aware of the deal.

We headed to one of the largest ring that had least crowded gathers. Less people, better start to invite many viewers. But first we had to sneak past them and then I must check in to the list for today’s battle show. The largest battle ring had three major levels viewers can gather depending what they can pay for. The first level was the most expensive one, something only the richest ones, often the greatest champions and the black market traders, pay for the best places to watch closest as possible. The middle level was more for the warriors who had gained some credits but were the poor ones struggling for survival. The third level, which was the top level, was for the ordinary gamers who wanted to spend some credit on the one they chose to win.

Here there were no winners, only losers. I had been there countless times before and I had battled countless times too, and I had surely seen much death for many warriors who could’ve spend their own fights for good things, not for greedy things. Yet, it was the same thing in every civilization. Gambling can give you plenty of money. Money meant power and power meant blindness. 

Luckily the battle ring I chose was my absolute favorite one. Its shape was more like an oval circular shaped one with the levels leaning diagrammed as it was dug up like a massive hole through mountain. The battle field’s walls were also four times the size above my own height. It was perfect. We went down through the staircases that led to the halls all warriors gathered, preparing themselves for the battle show that could be their last ones. The walls were the same rusty-red, getting old by aged scars and the halls underneath the levels were wide open spaced filled with benches, pillars for training combat fights and weapons hanging on the walls. The paly red sand tickled barely under our feet. Like always it was dusty. I hurried to one Jotun who was a hybrid between Jotun and mountain ogre. It gave him the appearance of a giant Jotun twice the size of Utgárðr-Loki himself and was humpbacked too. He was the one who checked those who wished to fight here and placed them on the schedule list for a battle cannot last more than half a megacycle as max. A battle show lasted a megacycle with one break between the two fights.

The gray hybrid recognized me immediately. “ **Ah, Viðar, welcome back!** ” he greeted me with a cheerful smile on the fatty round face with the thick nose and the white facial hair dangling down in braids. He had some broken teeth and some missing. The head was bald and his small blue eyes shined like a happy child.

“ **Long time no see, Berg** ,” I greeted him, smiling a bit. Berg and I had met several times before and he was not a troublemaker but a responsible one who took his job seriously. He wore old, ripped clothes on that told much of his status.

“ **What can I do with you today?** ” he asked when the hybrid spotted Optimus. “ **And who’s he?** ”

“ **She’s my personal slave, Berg** ,” I explained, though showing a bit aggression to mark my territory over her so he’d get to know it.

“ **Ah, my apologizes** ,” he jerked up and gestured his hands in a fast waving pattern, a typical behavior he had to show he didn’t mean to cause problems for the other one. “ **I didn’t expect you coming with a slave this time, Viðar.** ”

“ **It’s okay, Berg. I brought her here to give her a lesson about Jotuns** ,” I told him seriously.

“ **Oh, I see** ,” the hybrid frowned like he understood the main reason I came for. “ **Do you want her to be chained so she’d not get a chance to escape?** ”

“ **Yes, please. And I want her near the gate so she’ll get a real good view.** ”

“ **Of course, Viðar. I’ll make sure of that.** ”

Quickly he went away to get the chains. Awhile we waited for Berg it was now Optimus questioned me. “What did you speak with him?”

“I spoke him that –“

“That you’re going to give me a lesson by watching your fight?”

Her interruption triggered me to stare at her. How dared she speak like that?

**_Ouch, looks like she figured it out already. We must take actions now but in caution._ **

_Sköll, let me fix this for once,_ I was getting tired over Sköll’s interest. Why was he awake already when he should be in his hibernation? He had got fed enough of lifeblood not long time ago.

“You’re planning something, Viðar. I want to know what you’re getting up against right now,” Optimus turned into defense position now when she knew what I was going to do with her. Without warning I grabbed her and pressed her against me again as I rushed to the nearest wall, pushing her back against the wall. Dust and tiny pieces of rock fell down.

“Now you better listen to me at once,” I growled and showed my teeth again. “You have to understand.”

“Understand of what? That you’re going to sell me?” she took it as a joke, hissing like a cat.

“How dare you?” then I pressed my divided wolf head chest on her breast plates hard so our sparks could’ve touched each other if we hadn’t open our chest plates apart. I used my free hand to grip her throat gear again but not choking her seriously except I squeezed it this time. Rage was awakening from within. It burned without a warning.

**_Don’t do it. If you unleash your rage, you’ll lose yourself and she will die in your hands._ **

Sköll’s voice kicked in, forcing me to resist against the inner rage that was threatening to build up. So I let her throat gear go free and instead I clenched it into a fist, slamming it right onto the wall close into her head.

“I… I do this for your own sake,” I sighed, cooling down myself. “You have no idea what the Jotuns can do. If you can ever understand, I have to do this in the harsh way.”

“I think I’ve seen enough,” she said. “I get it. Jotuns are a filthy species.”

“But you haven’t seen all yet,” I shook my head. “I told you before. You have literally no idea about these people that you’re about to witness.”

“So what,” she hissed. “I’m not afraid for these tiny trolls. They wouldn’t have a chance against me.”

“For a warrior, yes… but for a Seidr-caster that's not a problem to defeat you up.”

“Seidr-caster?”

“Yes. Seidr-casters are dangerous magicians who have the capability to contain and control Seidr within. One Seidr-caster can easily beat up a warrior without problems.”

“Seidr… I heard you saying that word earlier with him,” she spoke.

“Yes. I can tell you more about it later,” I answered. “But I’ll give you a clue. Seidr is the very force that connects every living being in the whole galaxy. Optimus…”

“Viðar, what is it?”

“Right now, I must cast Seidr over you.”

“Wait what –“

Before she could speak further, I enchanted the spell: “ **Svaf**.”

My right hand glowed up in the white light whose rays spiraled with runes as I waved it in front of her facial features and she fell into fast recharge instantly. She nearly collapsed down if I hadn’t held her up using my free arm. Just then, Berg arrived with two immense chains.

“ **Here’s the chains you asked for** ,” he stated when he saw us and his eyes trust upwards in confusion. “ **Has she fallen asleep already?** ”

“ **No. I had to cast a sleeping spell over her** ,” I described quickly. “ **I… I need to change myself.** ”

“ **Uh, oh,** ” he said that when something bad was about to happen, another typical behavior of him. “ **Then I shall help you carrying the chains. Come, the gate’s not far.** ”

As kind he was, Berg guided me to the nearest gate with the bars up. Luckily on the roof hung six hooks meant for holding chains on place. He had no problem throwing the chains up with one having three hooks each. Quickly I removed the handcuff off from her, then chaining her arms while Berg pulled the chains down to the ground with all of his strength, attaching them to other hooks sitting on the ground. And finally she was up, dangling with the tip of her feet barely touching the sand. Her head hung down. I watched her carefully whereas she recharged in the deepest recharge.

“ **Do you wish anything else, Viðar?** ” Berg asked submissively.

I didn’t reply at that moment for it was then I felt how my body began to change internally. My hands shivered tensely when I felt the pain as claws grew out sharply. My fangs grew out too. Then the heat ignited from within, waking up into an intensive fire as my processor was shifted into somebody else’s own mind.

* * *

“ **Finally…** ” I growled when I came out and Viðar came inside, hiding and waiting for his turn.

“ **Ack, Sköll!** ” that pathetic hybrid squealed witnessing me appearing out.

“ **Silence, you pathetic hybrid** ,” I snarled with barred teeth. The hybrid backed off into the shadows. My facial scars glowed in blue nebulas when I neared closer into the she-Cybertronian. I must admit she was quite pretty.

**_Sköll, don’t do anything with her._ **

_Don’t worry, Viðar,_ I heard his voice inside my head. He sounded anxious. Yes, he was afraid that I’d do something on the she-Cybertronian. I felt his fear. Yes, definitely. Ah, I enjoyed sensing his fear that tickled inside our body. _You may fear me to harm her but you have my word._

I raised the right hand, placing the thumb, the index and the middle fingers. The index and the middle fingers were placed above the optic ridges while the thumb touched on the chin. I smirked, listening on the soundless but heavy venting of the she-Cybertronian named Optimus Prime. That name. I had heard it many times before. Yes, the last of the Primes. I knew her pretty much as well.

But yet, my host was hiding something from me that I can’t see, hear or think. It was like he had sealed a secret untouchable for me. Pah, why would I care for my host’s interest on a she-Cybertronian who turned out to be the last of the Primes? Pathetic. So pathetic what I can say.

The hand began to glow in white lines trailing from the finger tips, knotting into a circle with runes spinning inside the circle. On the palm glowed another knot patterned circle but with a sun symbol inside it this time. Then I began muttering in a rhythm – a **gláðr** – and the white light on the hand increased. It began to heat up, yet it compared nothing to the heat of a thriving sun providing light and warmth for a planet with life.

**_May you be sealed from sights,_ **

**_Thou none shall see you,_ **

**_May you be sealed from words,_ **

**_Thou none shall hear you,_ **

**_May you be sealed from thoughts,_ **

**_Thou none shall think you,_ **

**_May you be sealed from touch,_ **

**_Thou none shall feel you,_ **

**_May you be safe,_ **

**_And none shall harm you,_ **

As I muttered, the hand brightened with a strong light as rays spiraled around whose runes shone in blue glow, swirling round and round until they spread out to spin in circles around the she-Cybertronian. The runes created the barrier. It was an invisible force field that no one can see, hear, sense or even use their thoughts to find it. Once you were sealed inside it, only one who enchanted it can see it and its cargo, meaning I was the only one to see her inside the barrier.

**_Is it done, Sköll?_ **

_Almost done,_ I calmed Viðar. _Once done, she’ll be completely safe and well hidden._

The force field covered over from the roof to the sand, surrounding her and then the runes faded into small flares and vanished eventually. Now it was done. But before I could manage to shift back, she had woken up already.

* * *

I had no idea what happened to me. All I remembered was Viðar’s hand that glowed up and I fell instantly into fast recharge. I was in the deepest recharge I had ever been when some words were heard. By then, when I slowly woke up, I saw the wolf optics. I was about to shout when his clawed hand covered my mouth plate and his face came closer onto my own face. Also, I discovered fast that my arms were chained up and I was hanging in the air with my feet barely touching the sand.

_Viðar_ , I thought on him but then I realized it was not him.

His face plates weren’t the same. Well, they did look the same but it had the appearance of a wolf. The nose plate had become more like a wolf’s nose, the dentas sharp and carnivorous and the audio receptors fluffy, pointy wolf ears. The most striking details I found directly were the scars that shone in blue nebula. Two scars covered over the left, blind optic that traced from the forehead plate to the jaw, one of them longer than the other one that traced over the lip plates too, and three scars covering on the right side of the lip plates. Otherwise the rest of his body remained intact, only differences were the blue fur behind him appeared to be… glowing. Long stripes of white light danced in curly waves by their own will and there was a strange humming sound surrounding the lights.

The right wolf optic was darkly sea-blue with a tiny white pupil. I stared at him with a fast pulsing spark that pumped insanely underneath my throat gear. The wolf optics narrowed as I felt the hand releasing my mouth free and clapped my cheek plate.

“I must admit you’re really gracefully beautiful.”

Immediately I recognized the voice. It was him. Sköll. And he spoke in my native language too.

“You…” I tried to speak but could get barely a word out.

“Yes, me,” he smirked. The fangs shined like silver as the smirk widened. “You remember me, don’t you?”

“You’re the wolf,” I squawked a bit, struggling to swallow the dryness. “You were there with Lockdown.”

“Indeed. You’re clever to remember my voice. Now… you must listen extremely precisely what I’m about to say, she-Cybertronian. You’re inside a sealed barrier that only I can see. I’ve enchanted this in order to hide you from the Jotuns and still give you a good view of Viðar’s fight.”

“His fight?”

“Hehe, yes.”

“Let me go,” I demanded him, shaking my chained arms in an attempt to break it off. “I may be a femme but I’m not an ordinary femme as you think I am. I may have got broken down but now I feel it’s time for me to break myself free.”

“Actually, you’re not safe at all,” he then placed a clawed finger under my chin and lifted it up. His face was right above me. I got afraid when I realized he was taller than I thought. “If I were you, I would’ve hidden myself in the shadows and waited until everyone’s gone and finished.”

“What do you mean, wolf?”

“Simple. Utgárðr-Loki is planning for something to deal with you.”

I didn’t answer this time. I fell back into the silence I abused to show Viðar that I was not weak.

“Well then, stay in silence and you shall remain safe,” he then said.

“What do you mean?” I asked, frustrated over being chained as the chains clanged and creaked.

“As long you stay in silence and watch his fight,” his face was now so extremely close that I thought he was about to bite on my lips. “You will be safe from Utgárðr-Loki.”

No reply came from me. I glared him for a moment before he backed off with the sly smirk. “I hope you behave well for its show time.”

Then he walked by me and vanished through the tunnel.

_Viðar,_ I thought after him. _Where are you?_

* * *

**_She’s safe now,_** **_Viðar._**

_Thank you_ , I thanked him while I was hurrying to Berg who was already dealing with incoming warriors gathering inside the hall. “ **Berg, have you got anything heard from Utgárðr-Loki?** ”

“ **Ah, yes I have** ,” he replied, nodding frequently. “ **He’s on the ground level and he has told me to tell you go outside on the field to see him.** ”

“ **Thanks** ,” I thanked him when I saw the warriors. They were giant ones. I assumed they were hybrids between mountains ogres, Jotuns, mountain trolls and cave goblins, which I assumed. I noticed they were nine.

“ **Oiy!** ” one of the hybrids, a tripled hybrid between a troll, Jotun and cave goblin, shouted after me with a seagull’s shrieking voice. He wore gray brynja, leather boots and arms exposed without armor and had two double axes over his shoulders and had messy hair. Black hair covered his body. His long, hairy tail whipped impatiently. “ **Are ya Viðar?**

“ **Yes, I am** ,” I nodded, gazing down at him. I was towering about them but I thanked Yggdrasil that they were still big enough to challenge me. Plus nine warriors fitted perfectly for me as a great challenge. Better fighting a pack of wolves than a lonely bear.

“ **Ya are indeed a big one ya know that** ,” he grinned inclined, appearing more annoyed than captivated over my size. “ **I’mma gonna ya a real kick in the ass.** ”

“ **Heh, good luck with that** ,” I chuckled in a taunting way.

“ **Heya, what a great pleasure to meet you** ,” another hybrid, a gigantic one between Jotun and mountain ogre with dark brynja and a double-handed sword hanging behind his back, greeted me with the hand gesture signing _for fair fight_. “ **I’ve heard many stories about you but I’m much honored to be chosen fighting against you. For fair fight.** ”

“ **For fair fight** ,” I replied, signing the gesture in return. Fighting fairly meant much for many warriors, for mountain ogres in particular. “ **What’s your name?** ”

“ **Björn Sigtrýggssón** ,” he identified himself as Björn. “ **I have lived here on Utgárðr for ninety stellar years but I have never seen you here before.** ”

“ **That’s probably because you searched on the wrong areas. I come and go by.** ”

“ **I understand. I have to admit I didn’t directly expect you to be a Cybertronian.** ”

“ **Didn’t the stories tell ya about that?** ” the impatient hybrid with the double axes turned his head over the shoulder, glaring at Björn annoyed and showed his damaged teeth. “ **Viðar’s the great Cybertronian Úlf Berskir who has defeated nine thousand warriors on this very battle ring. It’s said that he transforms into a vicious monster and slay every single one who gets unfortunate on his path, ya know.** ”

“ **Heya, easy little bro** ,” a third hybrid hissed to the impatient hybrid with the whipping tail, appearing to be the impatient hybrid’s brother. They shared many similarities between them but the other one was bigger with a leather brynja and had a sword and a shield. His tail was shorter but still whipped loudly as his little brother. “ **Flok, be nice to Björn. He’s new here and I ain’t got a good day.** ”

“ **Oiy, Brandt** ,” Flok snarled, hissing like a cat. “ **I’m just talkin’ with this fella about our legendary champion. Björn, you gotta be careful when ya deal with the Úlf Berskir.** ”

“ **That’s very true** ,” A dark voice rumbled as steps echoed from the rocky steps, and then stepped a colossal giant. I recognized the giant from previous fights. “ **I was one of ‘em who went unfortunate on his path.** ”

His name was Svein Mökkerssón, notoriously known as _The Smasher_. He got that after his enormous hammer-like club he appreciated much. He was broadly shouldered, widely chested with powerful arms and legs. Unlike the rest, he didn’t wear a brynja. He had only leather shorts and boots as his wearing. He had countless numbers of white scars all over his coal-black body and face. The most famous scar he had was his missing right ear. And the one responsible for it was nobody else but me. The tusked mouth stayed stoic, though serious as our gazes met and the darkly red eyes on him shone like blood rubies.

I decided to walk away when Svein suddenly shouted: “ **Hey, Viðar! Long time no see, ol’ rival.** ”

“ **Long time no see too, Svein** ,” I greeted him in return, though I didn’t spend a single moment to take a look at him.

Surprisingly he didn’t take it badly. He knew me better than others. We might’ve had many fights before but he had a strong sense of respect to both allies and rivals. If he got defeated by a challenger but spared, he and the challenger would either become allies or rivals but that depended what happened between them really. When we had our first battle, I spared him after he got a really harsh damage by colliding against a wall, and I told him that he should be honored to be a strong warrior with the will to survive. After that, he thanked me to give him a reason to keep fighting. And because of me, he was now one of the greatest champions in the entire city.

“ **Flok, Brandt,** ” then came a fifth hybrid who spoke to Flok and Brandt. He was another giant hybrid, my guess between mountain troll and ogre, though some features of Jotuns appeared slightly on his face. Then I recognized him immediately. He was Erland Agnarssón, one of the fighters who fought daily, not for winning but for survival. “ **We’ve got no time talkin’ here, fellas. We’re here to fight, not talk.** ”

Then Erland noticed me and he smiled up slightly like he missed me, and then he gestured the hand sign _for fair fight._

Just then gathered the other warriors, and two of them I recognized directly as Úlv and Refur, two berserkers with wolf and fox furs as their capes. They were Jotun and goblin hybrids with own two dagger-like swords and both of them were black as night with carnivorous yellow eyes and they had animal head hoods over their slim faces. Úlv was recognizable for his white frost wolf cape and the more muscular built body. Refur was recognizable for the yellowish red fox cape and his skinny body but had strong legs meant for sprint.

The other two were new faces for me. One had an eagle’s face and the blond hair braided up as a long line between the shoulder blades. Just like the rest, the eagle face wore brynja, knee-long leather boots, a double axe and a shield with red printed runes that said _for forefathers before me whom shall give their strength to me._

The other new face would I describe as a Ríme Jotun. He had pale skin with white hair and wore unusually more armor than the rest and had no weapons either. He must be a foreigner from Niflheimr. But why would a Ríme Jotun like him travel so far from his home Realm to Utgárðr for reasons? More evidence came that he was a Ríme Jotun turned out that his arms froze into ice instantly everything he touched and his armor became an entire iceberg with sharply pointy icicles on the shoulders, five claw blades sticking out on the forearms and the entire body completely protected under solid ice. Even his head was protected underneath a helmet with spikes sticking backwards. I must admit I got impressed to see him.

“ **Ríme Jotun, what’s your name?** ” I asked after his name.

“ **My name’s Valkoinen** ,” he spoke short. His accent told much of his origin. Differently from the rest of all Jotuns, trolls, goblins and ogres, his accent sounded like a calm breeze with snowflakes. Not fast and huskily one, but calm and slow that reminded like a river’s melody. I noticed directly he was not a talkative one as the Ríme Jotun focused to sharpen his icy weapons. He did even ignore the others too.

I fixed my focus on Berg. I needed to discuss with him.

But just as I found him, he seemed to somewhat stressed. Berg was usually a calm giant who made sure everything was on place and every warrior was checked on schedule, and even when a couple of wounded warriors got carried in after a fight, he remained calm and helpful for the healers. But this time it was odd. What was stressing him up?

“ **Berg, what’s going on?** ” I questioned.

“ **Oh dear, oh dear** ,” he was definitely stressed. Sweat dripped from the head and panic shone clear on his blue eyes as if he’d faced a beast and ran off from it. Panting, he breathed fast. Aortas thickened, spreading all over his throat, head and arm muscles. “ **What shall I do, what shall I do, what shall I do?** ”

_What’s going on with him_ , I sensed something smelly from him. Acting like that was not typical for him at all. Then we heard the rumbling noise from the spiral horn that blew, telling everyone it was time to get out on the field.

“ **Alright, folks** ,” Svein howled like a commanding wolf, rising up on his feet and one hand gripping on the club. “ **It’s show time!** ”

I tried to inquire Berg but he had already rushed to the main gate. I followed to the gate that every giant warrior went out and in. There were three gates for a steady flow, though only one of them was out of order for its gate had grown rusty and got stuck so it couldn’t open. The malfunctioned gate was the one there Optimus was now. We waited as the gate was pulled up slowly with a complaining groan and when it was up completely, we all rushed out to the battle field there we faced the overwhelming and deafening audience that applauded and howled hysterically.

Berg was right. Utgárðr-Loki was on the richest level on the throne seat for this battle ring was one of his favorites, and he sat pleased with four women and two guards.

Then he rose up on his feet and held his hands up that forced the entire ring to fall into a tensed silence, prepared for a speech from the Jotun Lord.

“ **Well, as all of you’ve gathered here** ,” he began, almost singing it out. “ **We have one of the greatest and most lethal champions ever known here today. Yes, it’s Viðar, the fearsome Cybertronian Úlf Berskir!** ”

Then the entire audience roared in excitement in extreme levels so my audio receptors would blow up and bleed by the loud noises. The nine challengers had formed a circle with me in the middle. All of them rose up their weapons and shields, howling in thrilling sensation of the incoming show they were about to face and fight for their lives.

The Jotun Lord raised his hands again, quieting the audience once more and continued: “ **It’s been a great honor to have him here once more and witness his unbeatable power. Today, nine warriors have been chosen in honor for this battle event and they shall fight as a pack of wolves onto Viðar. We shall see who will live and who will die. After all…** ”

_I’m the one who spares the dying ones_ , I figured out what he was about to say next. _Because I believe a warrior who faces death have the right to choose to live._

“ **When this fight is over, our dear friend Viðar might spare some of you,** ” he then spoke to the warriors. “ **Or maybe not. Alright then… let’s start the show.** ”

A troll rushed to the blowing horn, inhaling a very deep breath and then used all its breath to unleash the rumbling roar from the horn. As it did, the entire audience became excited and thrilled again.

_Alright,_ I thought, happy for the first time for a long time. Honestly, I had missed fighting here in the battle field. _It’s show time!_


End file.
